


I'll be Right Here, Bud

by AHeartForStories



Series: AHeartForStories' Whumptober 2020 [27]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Dislocated Joint, Earthquakes, Gen, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless Friendship, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III Whump, Hurt Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Impaled, Impalement, Whump, Whumptober 2020, dislocated knee, dragon whump, toothless whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:02:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27236206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHeartForStories/pseuds/AHeartForStories
Summary: Written for Whumptober Day 27. Httyd Zombie AU. What happens when the abandoned house you're waiting for your friends is in the middle of an area that happens to be hit by an earthquake on the one day you happen to be there? What happens when there also so happens to be a very poorly treated pipe that has decided to burst and has slowly been eating away at the street that house happens to be on? Nothing good as Hiccup and Toothless soon find out.
Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless
Series: AHeartForStories' Whumptober 2020 [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949440
Comments: 8
Kudos: 19





	I'll be Right Here, Bud

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Whumptober prompt: "Earthquake"  
> Not too happy with this one, there's a chance this might be overly dramatic. I have absolutely no idea what earthquakes are like.
> 
> Constructive criticism is appreciated!  
> Enjoy!

The first sign that something is wrong comes from Toothless. He can sense that something is about to happen, that there is something not quite right with the very earth that they live on.

Resting on the floor by a worn couch in a neglected living room, his eyes snap open and his head shoots up. Breathing rapidly, he can feel it coming, can sense the early rumblings like only a dragon can.

An earthquake is coming.

Looking towards the couch, he can see his Rider lying on top of it, eyes closed. He may be asleep, he may simply be resting.

Hiccup is often tired. Toothless has always known him that way, as someone who is often tired for several different reasons. So unlike the others, he doesn't really partake in scavenging, choosing to recharge instead.

But as much as Toothless wishes him all the time to recuperate, he really needs to get his ass up.

So Toothless grabs him by his plaids and pulls him right off the couch, causing him to wake up by the hard fall on the floor.

"Toothless! What was that for?!" Hiccup groans, rolling onto his back and first almost missing his Bud's trying to bite down toothlessly on his arm to pull him up and out of the house.

"Bud? Toothless, what's wrong?" When he asks, that's when the earthquake starts.

The home they're in starts to rumble and shake. The chandelier overhead quickly and violently swings from right to left, picture frames fall from the wall, knickknacks strewn about tumble to the ground. The sound of glass and dishes breaking in the kitchen joins in.

Realizing what's going on, Hiccup climbs to his feet, holding onto his dragon as it's otherwise impossible to gain any sort of balance in these tremors.

Wanting to be out of the house and into the safety of the sky, Hiccup and Toothless make their way to the front door. But the house isn't planning on letting them leave so easily.

Without warning, the floor in the short hallway starts to give beneath Toothless and the Night Fury, not wanting to see his Rider be hurt, grabs hold of his shirt and all but flings out onto the street, just barely missing the frame of the front door.

The pavement isn't kind on his skin, scraping him all over, but that is the least of Hiccup's concerns as he looks back on all fours and finds his dragon is no longer in sight.

"Toothless!" He cries out and struggles to his feet, but then another surprise shows its ugly face. A hollow pocket beneath the street opens up and before Hiccup's wobbly legs can take him safety, it gives out under him, too, and he's left to tumble his way down, only coming to a halt in dirty water.

And then the rumbling stops and it has barely been a minute.

It's hard to see from his point of view, but a portion on their part of the street has just gone, all because of an already much too long neglected pipe having his final blow some years ago.

Groaning in pain, Hiccup is certain he's hit his head at least a couple of times and he's sure that was his left knee he felt pop out of place.

Not too worry, he'll push it back in place himself. What he's worried about is using that leg to get out of his hole and into Toothless'. That his Bud must've fallen into a basement or something is the only explanation he can think of why Toothless is suddenly nowhere to be found.

Spitting out grimy water, Hiccup carefully moves onto his side.

"Toothless?! Toothless, are you okay, Bud?" He yells out and hopes to be heard.

Only a second passes before Toothless roars back, followed by the sound of wood and brick being moved. And then, there is a second howl, this time one of pain.

Hiccup tries not to let it get to him. He pants, heart racing from the event, and realizes that he's going to have to get himself out, into Toothless' ditch, and help him get out and all with a dislocated leg.

Though this kind of life hardens a person, Hiccup has never been the one to tolerate much pain. That he experiences so much of it with his leg surprisingly doesn't help. Knowing that his best friend is hurt is a good motivator, however.

"I should be preparing for uni or something. I should have my dad on my case about my grades because "you're such a bright boy with good brains, Hiccup, use them!" But no, instead I have to climb out of a sinkhole in a post-apocalyptic world because this city was apparently LOUSY with the upkeep of their streets." He groans and complains as he painstakingly slowly gets onto his back and into a sitting position, frustrated by his predicament.

A sigh leaves him in relief as that's over with. And then he looks at his knee.

He can't quite see it with his pants on, but he can feel that it's out of place. It burns.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you see it, he has enough experience with his left leg dislocating that he can pop it back in himself.

He manages to make the toes of his prosthetic face upwards and then he painfully bends his knee until it reaches his chest and then unfolds it again. And he repeats this until he can feel the knee pop back into place and a short cry leaves him.

He trembles and takes a moment to let the pain settle. He hates needing to reset that leg.

Toothless cries out for Hiccup.

"Yeah, I hear you, Buddy! I'm coming!" He calls back to him and finds the strength in him to struggle up to his feet. He'll have to crawl out of this sinkhole somehow in order to reach his dragon.

Fortunately, it isn't too high and seems doable enough.

It takes some pipes, some pieces of asphalt that are definitely not where they are supposed to be, and it takes ignoring the burning pain in his leg. But he manages to pull himself up, rolling onto his back once he's on the street and panting as he needs a moment. His knee is protesting.

Toothless calls out again.

"I know, Bud! I got out and I'm coming!" Hiccup can't blame him for the urgency, he might be hurt and he doesn't know the predicament his human partner had been in.

Hiccup struggles to his feet again and limps over to the house they'd been resting in while waiting for their friends as they searched this neighborhood for anything that could be of use to them.

Hiccup reaches the front door and finds the entire lower floor to be gone. A lot of the house is gone, having collapsed from the earthquake. It must've been structurally weak.

Of course, of all the houses and all the streets, they pick the ones most in danger of collapsing on the day they have to collapse.

"Bud?!"

Toothless calls back to him and Hiccup leans forward, holding onto the door frame and spotting his Bud in the basement with a whole lot of house on top of him.

"Bud," Hiccup gasps and the dragon moans for his help. He should be strong enough to get it off and climb out of this place himself, but a pain in his wing is stopping him.

He should go down there with him, see what exactly is wrong with his dragon and how he can help.

"I'm coming down there, Bud." Hiccup assures him, receiving a verbal reply from him in return, and looks for a way down.

There is no easy way down for him with his leg and waiting for their friends to show up to help him down isn't an option either. So he searches and spots a partially intact staircase. It doesn't look that trustworthy, he might actually end up breaking a leg should it collapse, but he sees little other choice.

So he makes his way over there, soon climbing over debris to reach the stairs. It's not easy, but he manages.

"Just a minute more!" Another moan in response.

Hiccup begins his descend, needing to be slow and careful as he can hear and feel it creak treacherously even beneath his light weight.

But he somehow reaches the basement floor safely, taking the drop after the fifth step. His knee buckles, but only just doesn't pop back out of place and Hiccup gasps.

But he doesn't take a moment, going straight for his Bud and climbing through and over wood and brick to get to him. When he does, Toothless looks up at him and Hiccup sinks to his knees. He's almost completely buried.

"Hey, Toothless, I'm here now." Hiccup pets his head and the dragon purrs.

It doesn't take long for Hiccup to spot what may be keeping him from getting out of this himself as he sees a puddle of blood.

"That can't be good," He says and leans forward to investigate, nearly lying flat to the ground to see what the cause of all of this is. When he does, he gasps.

A thin and pointy wooden beam has pierced his Bud's wing. And to keep the wound from tearing further, Toothless can't move at all.

And at the same time, there is little Hiccup can do on his own. He can see it, all that stuff needs to be removed from his dragon's back before he can get to worry about the injury and the offending object. At the same time, someone needs to keep said object in place while everything is being removed. He can't get Toothless out of here by himself.

Toothless looks up at the human, he probably knows what is up.

"I'm sorry, Tooth. I can't get you out of here on my own. We need to wait for the others." Hiccup apologizes, stroking the top of his Bud's head.

Who knows how long that will take, how long until the other Dragon Riders come back to him. And until then? Hiccup takes Toothless' head and places it on his lap.

"We have to wait for everyone else, but don't worry, I'll be right here, Bud." Hiccup assures him and Toothless purrs appreciatively. He can get through a few hours of white-hot pain so long as Hiccup is here.


End file.
